Frozen for 1,600 years, Antarctic moss revived

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have revived a moss plant that was frozen beneath the Antarctic ice and seemingly lifeless since the days of Attila the Hun.

Dug up from Antarctica, the simple moss was about 1,600 years old, black and looked dead. But when it was thawed in a British lab's incubator, something happened. It grew again.

British Antarctic Survey ecologist Peter Convey said the moss was visibly greening with new shoots after three weeks. He said scientists didn't do anything to make it grow except squirt it with distilled water.

Convey said this may make scientists rethink what is dead and what's not. He said this is by far the longest case of revival of a plant or animal from frozen limbo.

The study was published Monday in the journal Current Biology.

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